FROM GEORGE IV TO EDWARD VII
Old London. Four Stories. By E. F. Benson. (Appleton. 2 I S.) MR. BENSON, who has the art, rare in a novelist, of being as interesting as an historian, and who has given us history as interesting as any novel, now, in these four tiny stories, gives us a kind of infusion of the two. They are light sketches of more or less typical characters from four successive generations, the outlines of which I suspect he has derived from actual tradition ; for they show precisely those inconsistencies which we see so often in real life, but which are usually avoided by writers of fiction.
The first of the four is Lord Stoke, a great nobleman of 183o, a good landlord in the sense that he looks after his tenants as a Master. of Hounds looks after his pack ; a supporter of religion to the extent of going to church (usually late) once a Sunday and reading the lessons ; faithful to his wife in the country and seeking relief from her society by keeping a lively young dancer in London ; loyal to the Crown but contemptuous of its somewhat dilapidated wearer. He is but dimly conscious of the coming catastrophe of 1832 and of the rise of the middle classes to power ; but he yields so far as to allow his daughter to marry the son of a wealthy •brewer, when he discovers that the young man is a first-rate shot. Finally, when his wife fades into the unknown, he marries the dancer, secure in the conviction that he has enough nobility for two.
In " Janet " we pass to another social stratum. Janet's tragedy is that she is ahead of her age, but is overcome by it. The pride here is the pride of her family; and it is fatal. Left a widow with scanty means, she wishes to use her great talent as a dress-designer for the purpose of making money. But that a lady should keep a shop is intolerable to her relatives, and not least to her son. Against this prejudice she struggles in vain ; and the result is described by Mr. Benson with an irony all the more effective for being kept- in restraint.
In the remaining two stories, it seems to me, the characters are not specially typical of their tunes, and the touches which " date " them are slight and incidental.. Lady Rebecca Gilling- ham, the " Friend of the Rich," who tacks herself, on to a millionaire family in order (for a consideration) to further its social advancement, is called a Mid-Victorian, but, one has heard, is by no means dead yet. The poor, of this detestable class, we have always with us : and I have no doubt there were women who feathered their nests by introducing the wives of successful Babylonian merchants to the harem of Nebuchad- nezzar. Mr. Benson's portrait, however, is lively and pointed ; nor, I am glad to say, is he ashamed to end his tale in the full
spirit of poetical justice. • Dorothy Vincent, " the Unwanted," is, if possible, still more universal, though Mr. Benson sets her in Edwardian surroundings. She is that well-known pest, the intrusively benevolent, who, like Johnson's Patron, encumbers her friends with unwelcome help. Impervious to all hints and snubs, she forces her kindness on her rheumatic aunt, wearies her nephews with her unsolicited companionship, and retains throughout the serene consciousness of noble purpose and high-minded rectitude. It is a pathetic picture : Mr. Benson allows the pathos to speak for itself.
The little volumes are so admirably " got up " that it would be a pleasure to read them, even if Mr. Benson were not the author. The printing is beautifully clear, and the decorations, by Mr. Reginald Birch,- are admirable. The books also-7;no trifling rriatter—are light to bold.
E. E. KiaitErr.
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